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Today, it's undeniable: Jazzercise is a worldwide empire, spanning more than 1,800 locations and 32,000 weekly classes across the globe. It's also hip; gone are the leotards and legwarmers of the 1980s, replaced with a high-intensity blend of cardio, strength training, kickboxing and power yoga performed to hits by chart-toppers from Shakira to Justin Timberlake. The class formats, which vary according to different toning goals, are just as diverse as the program's move set, with recent additions such as Fusion, Core, and Strike broadening the workouts' variety and application. Instructors cultivate a noncompetitive atmosphere where all exercisers are welcome regardless of age, build, or fitness background. This sense of community keeps Jazzercise devotees coming back, but so too do the results; benefits ranging from weight loss and boosted core strength to increased flexibility and stress relief.
Jazzercise's continued success can be traced to the innovation of its founder, Judi Sheppard Missett. While teaching jazz dance in the 1960s, she
decided to step away from tradition by offering an experimental class that allowed her students to simply dance without the judgment of mirrors or the constraints of rigid technique. Little
did she know that this ?just for fun? class was the prototype for what would become the Jazzercise sensation.

After 20 years of college athletics, triathlons, and personal training, Yana Salwan discovered that her high-impact workouts were ravaging her back and joints. Barre workouts, inspired by moves from classical ballet, helped Yana transform her body, striking a balance between strength and flexibility. Now Yana shares this restorative workout in her intimate, female-only boutique studio. Each precisely choreographed barre workout employs muscle-sculpting movements, yoga stretches, and Pilates core work to create long, lean muscles and sculpted bodies. Among the many health benefits of barre workouts, they can help exercisers improve posture, increase range of motion, and finally beat the rival summer camp in the annual ballet dance-off.

If variety is the spice of life, then Yoga & Fitness Passport is a veritable East Indian Trading Company. The outfit curates some of the highest reviewed fitness studios throughout both Canada and the U.S. From there, they issue passports that give exercisers a chance to jump from yoga to Zumba to pole dancing classes, all at different studios. Rather than having to navigate each gym's scheduling site, guests can find and sign up for sessions through the Yoga & Fitness Passport site. From there, folks just need to show their confirmation on a smart phone or wood etching, and it's off to the races.

The Pure Barre method is a ballet-inspired workout that former dancer and founder Carrie Rezabek Dorr describes as a series of micromovements. It gently yet quickly whips bodies into shape, toning legs, lifting seats, fortifying core muscles, and burning fat. At Pure Barre Hudson, instructors certified in the specialized techniques lead visitors through 55-minute classes, helping them get in shape in time for momentous occasions, such as the day a lady wears her wedding dress to her best friend’s wedding.

With the desire to make women of all ages, body type, and confidence levels feel empowered and beautiful, the fitness instructors of X-Exercise create six-week exotic-dance fitness sessions catered to the group of women enrolled at the time. Over the course of six weeks, they learn striptease fitness or other exotic dancing during 60-minute classes that include stretching, core work, and strength building.

The three half-hour workout sessions (valued at $40 apiece) will help pinpoint your fitness goals and set you on a path to achieving them. The certified, professional trainers will give you their undivided, and therefore multiplied, attention to customize each workout to fit your needs. Their instruction is structured to keep clients motivated, happy, and on track or treadmill during the 30-minute sessions and beyond. Also included is one half-hour post-training massage (a $40 value), so push yourself to the limit knowing there's a soothing muscle recharger waiting to enliven fatigued gams and electrify exhausted arms come session's end.